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# Tipping the scale on crime: Anonymous call-in center established for SM
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/tipping-the-scale-on-crime-anonymous-call-in-center-established-for-sm/
- Published: 2004-03-24T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:03:33.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Crime, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Police looking for tips in Jalonnie Carter murder*

Local authorities hope a proven national crime fighting technique will help net arrests and deter would-be criminals in Santa Monica.

They’ve enlisted “WeTip,” a 34-year-old phone center based in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., to take anonymous crime tips in Santa Monica. If information leads to an arrest, tipsters are paid up to $1,000.

Here’s how it works: Anonymous callers are asked a series of 65 targeted questions drafted by prosecutors and investigators. Bilingual operators, who are on the job 24 hours a day, seven days a week, then assign each tipster a three-part code name and give them a case number.

WeTip faxes tips to the local police department, where officers review the information and decide whether to act on it. If a tip leads to an arrest, officers rate the quality of the tip from one to 10 and notify WeTip. Tipsters can then call WeTip, give their name and case number, and request the money — in cash — which is made available at any post office in the country.

Fliers and stickers promoting WeTip have been distributed around town. Police are meeting with students, as well as local resident and business groups to get the message out, said Santa Monica Police Department Sgt. David P. Thomas, who heads the community relations/crime prevention unit. He also is overseeing the contract with the nonprofit WeTip, which was signed in January for $5,100.

“We always need witnesses and witness testimony in order to convict someone, so we’re not trying to say you never need to come forward and talk to police,” said Sgt. Thomas, who urged residents to call 911 to report crimes in progress. “WeTip was created for people that may be afraid to come forward, for whatever reason... It’s not taped. There’s no tracing. There’s no caller ID.”

> “WeTip was created for people that may be afraid to come forward, for whatever reason.” — — DAVID P. THOMAS SMPD Sgt

The fledgling local WeTip program already has been put into use. Police on March 13 passed out 1,000 fliers in the Pico neighborhood asking anyone with information about the Sept. 2, 2003 murder of 19-year-old Jalonnie Carter to call the WeTip line at (800)-78-CRIME. Though police arrested Arthur Archuletta of Santa Monica immediately after the shooting, Archuletta has since been released and prosecutors have said there is insufficient evidence to press charges against him. SMPD Lt. Frank Fabrega said Archuletta remains a suspect in the homicide.

WeTip is new to City Hall, but it’s been used by the local school district for years. It helped police find an arsonist at Santa Monica High School two years ago who lit a dozen bathroom fires. Two days after police distributed WeTip fliers, a fellow student provided a specific tip, detailing the suspect, his class schedule, even what type of backpack he carried. That tipster cashed out for the full $1,000, Sgt. Thomas said.

But it’s not just in attracting tips that WeTip has been so successful. Sgt. Thomas, who stressed that all tips are carefully investigated before acted on, said WeTip also helps deter crime from happening. He pointed to a WeTip program at the school district in Compton, where after an intensive outreach campaign, tips didn’t increase — but crime dropped by 41 percent.

Started by a retired Southern California police officer in 1972, WeTip originally stood for “We Turn In Pushers.” But because of its success in netting tips for other types of crimes — including robberies, homicides, child abuse — the program was made available nationwide in 1982\. An official at the WeTip office on Tuesday said the anonymous service has taken over 390,000 calls, resulting in nearly 15,000 arrests and 8,000 convictions. According to www.wetip.com — another place anonymous complaints can be lodged — more than $515,000 has been paid out to tipsters.

For more information on WeTip, call the SMPD at (310) 458-8474.

David P. Thomas

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*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 24, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/032404.pdf?ref=smdp.com)